Storm Enteng sets off floods, landslides

Thousands stranded at ports; flights canceled

- PIA LEE-BRAGO

Tropical Storm Enteng set off landslides and unleashed pounding rain that flooded many areas in Luzon starting Sunday night until yesterday, killing at least 11 people, according to reports from local authorities and wire agencies.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), however, had listed only two fatalities and 10 injuries in Central Visayas on its official tally of casualties as of last night, based on its 8 a.m. report.

Enteng was spotted at 115 kilometers northeast of Infanta, Quezon by midday yesterday, with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 kph, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Enteng was moving northwestward at 15 kph near the eastern coast of northern Luzon, where PAGASA warned of possible flashfloods and landslides in mountainous provinces.

A landslide hit two small shanties on a hillside in Antipolo City in Rizal, killing at least three people including a pregnant woman, according to disaster mitigation officer Enrilito Bernardo Jr.

Four other villagers drowned in swollen creeks, Bernardo said.

According to Philippine National Police (PNP) Rizal provincial director Col. Felipe Maraggun, five persons, including two minor children, died in the landslide and from drowning that occurred in the city.

Maraggun said two children aged 12 and 15 were sleeping inside their house along Daang Pari in Sitio Hinapao in Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City at around 9:50 a.m. yesterday when the soil adjacent to it eroded toward their place, causing the victims to be buried in the landslide. Adjacent households were also buried.

“There was ongoing retrieval operation in the landslide area,” Maraggun said.

The victims were rushed to the Rizal Provincial Hospital Annex 11 in Barangay Dalig, but were declared dead on arrival.